6 Years of Weeks
March 4, 2020 8:38 AM Subscribe
A YouTube playlist with dozens upon dozens of made-for-TV movies from ABC's Movie of the Week series (1969-1975).
Oh, The Night Stalker. Now they probably make commercials scarier than that, but at the time, and at our age (8, 9, and 10?), my little brother and sister and I were freaked out. A tingling, hair-raising rush of terror. We were standing on the couch because we couldn't sit down.
posted by pracowity at 9:35 AM on March 4, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 9:35 AM on March 4, 2020 [12 favorites]
When I clicked on this I thought there was no way I had seen many of these but looking through I have in fact seen many. I like a lot of the horror ones - Trilogy of Terror, Crowhaven Farm, Satan's School For Girls, Killer Bees, Killdozer & Spielberg's the Duel being stand outs. When I was a kid I loved Moon of the Wolf for some reason. The Tribe made a big impression on me as well when I was a child. One interesting one I just saw I saw recently is The People (1972). Featuring William Shatner, executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and based on Zenna Henderson's People series.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:02 AM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:02 AM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
The playlist includes "Duel", the movie that launched Steven Spielberg's career, after he had previously only directed episodic TV. In fact, it was first aired on a Saturday Night when ABC had expanded the Movie of the Week to include the "Movie of the Weekend" but it brought in high enough ratings to be rerun in the regular Tuesday timeslot. It was then re-edited to lengthen it from 'fits in a 90 minute TV timeslot with commercials' length to a full 90 minute European theatrical release. It could also be the most familiar performance by Dennis Weaver that doesn't include a "Chief"/"McCloud" exchange.
I have a weird indirect connection to "Duel". The voice on the radio that Mr. Mann is listening to on his way out of town is Dick Whittington, the 'wacky radio guy' I admired and who I ended up working for several years later. So you could say I'm Two Degrees from Steven Spielberg. (And his voice over the car radio was tapes of his actual radio show at the time; sadly, he didn't get to sit in the back seat with Spielberg reading his lines... but they were totally HIS lines).
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:37 AM on March 4, 2020 [9 favorites]
I have a weird indirect connection to "Duel". The voice on the radio that Mr. Mann is listening to on his way out of town is Dick Whittington, the 'wacky radio guy' I admired and who I ended up working for several years later. So you could say I'm Two Degrees from Steven Spielberg. (And his voice over the car radio was tapes of his actual radio show at the time; sadly, he didn't get to sit in the back seat with Spielberg reading his lines... but they were totally HIS lines).
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:37 AM on March 4, 2020 [9 favorites]
OMG, "Amelia" from Trilogy of Terror fueled many nightmares for me as a kid. My older cousin would occasionally terrify me with chattering teeth after relating the story to me, which added to the creepiness when I finally saw the last scene for myself.
posted by mefireader at 11:08 AM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mefireader at 11:08 AM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Amazing! And it is delightful that many clock in under 90 minutes
posted by Going To Maine at 11:20 AM on March 4, 2020
posted by Going To Maine at 11:20 AM on March 4, 2020
As someone who grew up watching TV during the early to mid 1970s, I’m not sure whether to be surprised by how many of these I remember or by how many I don’t. Go Ask Alice was a huge hit with my grade school cohort, who all assumed it was real (and often drew parallels between it and their older siblings who liked to party a bit much). I don’t know if I realized Brian’s Song started as a TV movie; I assumed it was a theatrical release that made it to TV rather than the other way around. Powerful tearjerker either way.
posted by TedW at 11:25 AM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by TedW at 11:25 AM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
Go Ask Alice, which was supposed to be an anti-drug movie, was fundamental in my deciding to try LSD for the first time. As long as I wasn't as stupid about it as Alice was.
posted by philip-random at 11:44 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 11:44 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now we need recommendations of which ones to watch!!
it's not on the list but I distinctly remember seeing War Of Children as a movie of the week, probably in 1972.
Tough movie about a tough subject, The Troubles being very much a reality at the time.
posted by philip-random at 11:48 AM on March 4, 2020
it's not on the list but I distinctly remember seeing War Of Children as a movie of the week, probably in 1972.
Tough movie about a tough subject, The Troubles being very much a reality at the time.
posted by philip-random at 11:48 AM on March 4, 2020
The ending of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark haunted me for years, it wasn't until my 2006 question on AskMe that I knew what movie it actually was.
I watched far too many of those Made for TV movies as a child than were good for me.
posted by beowulf573 at 11:49 AM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
I watched far too many of those Made for TV movies as a child than were good for me.
posted by beowulf573 at 11:49 AM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Duel's been mentioned, of course, but Steven Spielberg made another TV movie around that time which didn't get quite the same level of praise.
Something Evil
It's not on the list, but Youtube does have it.
posted by philip-random at 11:59 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Something Evil
It's not on the list, but Youtube does have it.
posted by philip-random at 11:59 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm another child of the 70s who remembers far too many of these films. I can picture in my mind the 2001 A Space Odyssey-esque opening credits to this day. Those movies of the week also gave a generation of TV actors a chance to break out of their series stereotypes, such as Dennis Weaver's milquetoast Duel character was the polar opposite of McCloud.
Looking back, what I liked best about ABCs made-for-TV films is that they ran the gamut of genres, from heavy drama, comedy, sci-fi, exploitation, you name it. You could go from "That Certain Summer"(about a teenage son learning about his father's homosexuality) one week to "The Night Stalker" (Darrin McGavin was BORN to play Carl Kolchak) the next.
posted by bawanaal at 12:00 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
Looking back, what I liked best about ABCs made-for-TV films is that they ran the gamut of genres, from heavy drama, comedy, sci-fi, exploitation, you name it. You could go from "That Certain Summer"(about a teenage son learning about his father's homosexuality) one week to "The Night Stalker" (Darrin McGavin was BORN to play Carl Kolchak) the next.
posted by bawanaal at 12:00 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
Duel is such a perfect little movie and basically functioned as Spielberg's resume to get into Feature films.
posted by octothorpe at 12:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 12:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
I know I've seen quite a few of these when they aired and there are probably a lot more that I'd remember once I started watching. Movies that last 75 to 90 minutes don't really get made much now; it's sort of a lost format.
posted by octothorpe at 1:02 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 1:02 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's notable that ABC's "Movie of the Week" was scheduled in a 90-minute timeslot, so everything (at least the first version) was 90 minutes minus about 15 minutes of commercials. NBC's "World Premiere Movies" were in a two-hour timeslot, so they all ran about 100 minutes, but NBC confused things when it started its "Mystery Movies" in a 90-minute format (including the original Columbos and Dennis Weaver's McCloud).
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2020
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2020
Oh you like Steven Spielberg made for TV movies? You like to watch them on Youtube? Well there's also Murder By The Book, the Spielberg-directed series premiere of "Columbo" starring Peter Falk!
posted by chrchr at 1:17 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 1:17 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Two movies:
* The Devil's Triangle, with Kim Novak's awful smile in the back of that helicopter. Yeesh.
* The Bermuda Depths. Could be a meFi post of its own.
The music, the setting, poor doomed Jennifer Hanifern...nothing is ever as good as it was and i remember even at the time the effects were distinctly not special, but I'd like to see it again. Or maybe I just want to be who I was when I saw it the first time; younger with a head full of more dreams than memories.
But I still dream of it sometimes, being on a beach with a gravestone realizing my childhood love was a ghost. There was more whimsy of fate and less mechanics in those movies. I miss that.
Oh, and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, and The Girl Most Likely To.... Also great.
posted by lon_star at 3:22 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
* The Devil's Triangle, with Kim Novak's awful smile in the back of that helicopter. Yeesh.
* The Bermuda Depths. Could be a meFi post of its own.
The music, the setting, poor doomed Jennifer Hanifern...nothing is ever as good as it was and i remember even at the time the effects were distinctly not special, but I'd like to see it again. Or maybe I just want to be who I was when I saw it the first time; younger with a head full of more dreams than memories.
But I still dream of it sometimes, being on a beach with a gravestone realizing my childhood love was a ghost. There was more whimsy of fate and less mechanics in those movies. I miss that.
Oh, and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, and The Girl Most Likely To.... Also great.
posted by lon_star at 3:22 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
Not a ghost - immortal. She was immortal. Sometimes a memory needs to be studied for a while to show its true nature.
posted by lon_star at 3:30 PM on March 4, 2020
posted by lon_star at 3:30 PM on March 4, 2020
Spielberg also gave us Amazing Stories, ancestor of X-Files
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:54 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:54 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Wow, it's like just throw everything against the wall & see what sticks: several nice gems in the mix, & lots of cultural touchstones all round.
'The Tribe' (1973) is not to be confused with 'Tribes' (1970): which is a philosophical Marine boot-camp thought piece, and a direct influence on 'Full Metal Jacket'..
'The Devil's Daughter' is a hilarious Satanic panic freakout!
'Scream, Pretty Peggy' is a creepy psychological horror star turn for Bette Davis.
(Note: not to be confused with NBC 70's made-for-TV movies (I see a few there) which are also weird and interesting.)
(I'll also shout out for some swell Canadian (CBC) 70's/80's made-for-TV movies, which are worth look!)
posted by ovvl at 6:41 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
'The Tribe' (1973) is not to be confused with 'Tribes' (1970): which is a philosophical Marine boot-camp thought piece, and a direct influence on 'Full Metal Jacket'..
'The Devil's Daughter' is a hilarious Satanic panic freakout!
'Scream, Pretty Peggy' is a creepy psychological horror star turn for Bette Davis.
(Note: not to be confused with NBC 70's made-for-TV movies (I see a few there) which are also weird and interesting.)
(I'll also shout out for some swell Canadian (CBC) 70's/80's made-for-TV movies, which are worth look!)
posted by ovvl at 6:41 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Oh, it's actually there -- "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" with Sally Field. The only other two I remember watching are "How Awful About Allan" and "Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones". From what I remember from ... 50 ... years ago, I'd give Maybe 8/10 and Allan 6.5/10. As for Bo Jo, I really only remember the title. Maybe I didn't watch it.
Wasn't there also a movie involving survivors of a plane crash? And a cholera epidemic? And some blind people? The "Seven in Darkness" must be the blind-people one. And #3 is marked deleted, that might be the cholera one.
I'm not sure if I'm going to watch any of these. I like having these distant foggy memories of old shows, mixed with everything I was doing as a preteen when I wasn't watching TV. If I start watching that Sally Field movie I might end up going to high school reunions, and who knows where all the nostalgia searching will lead to?
I do believe these were the handiwork of a young Barry Diller, who was trying to recapture the one-off movies he remembered of his recent youth, like CBS Playhouse and maybe even the Twilight Zone and Hitchcock shows.
posted by morspin at 10:07 PM on March 4, 2020
Wasn't there also a movie involving survivors of a plane crash? And a cholera epidemic? And some blind people? The "Seven in Darkness" must be the blind-people one. And #3 is marked deleted, that might be the cholera one.
I'm not sure if I'm going to watch any of these. I like having these distant foggy memories of old shows, mixed with everything I was doing as a preteen when I wasn't watching TV. If I start watching that Sally Field movie I might end up going to high school reunions, and who knows where all the nostalgia searching will lead to?
I do believe these were the handiwork of a young Barry Diller, who was trying to recapture the one-off movies he remembered of his recent youth, like CBS Playhouse and maybe even the Twilight Zone and Hitchcock shows.
posted by morspin at 10:07 PM on March 4, 2020
If you're reading this, I bet you're in that fine, fine 59-65 age bracket.
Was Tribes the one that starts off with Jan-Michael Vincent having his long locks shorn off?
And that logo --- I haven't played any of these yet, but I remember the tune and the great credits. I probably have the key wrong, but I'm sure I've got the melody.
I also remember that 1969-70 was the year ABC pulled ahead of its competitors in the relevance arena. CBS was too tied to the money they were raking in with their rural comedy shows, variety shows, and westerns. I'm not going to head over to tvparty.com -- I have an early meeting tomorrow -- but I bet I could waste a lot of time spelunking over what was going on during those 1969-72 years.
By '73 we were a tv-free family, and I haven't paid much attention to broadcast TV since then. Did I miss anything worth watching?
posted by morspin at 10:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Was Tribes the one that starts off with Jan-Michael Vincent having his long locks shorn off?
And that logo --- I haven't played any of these yet, but I remember the tune and the great credits. I probably have the key wrong, but I'm sure I've got the melody.
I also remember that 1969-70 was the year ABC pulled ahead of its competitors in the relevance arena. CBS was too tied to the money they were raking in with their rural comedy shows, variety shows, and westerns. I'm not going to head over to tvparty.com -- I have an early meeting tomorrow -- but I bet I could waste a lot of time spelunking over what was going on during those 1969-72 years.
By '73 we were a tv-free family, and I haven't paid much attention to broadcast TV since then. Did I miss anything worth watching?
posted by morspin at 10:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
No. Not a damn thing.
posted by Billiken at 6:50 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Billiken at 6:50 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Did I miss anything worth watching?
From my perspective, American broadcast TV programming dropped in general entertainment value after the early 70's, so if you went TV-free in 1973 you have pretty good timing. There were a couple of decent shows in the late 70s (WKRP, Barney Miller) but they were anomalies.
posted by ovvl at 6:57 AM on March 5, 2020
From my perspective, American broadcast TV programming dropped in general entertainment value after the early 70's, so if you went TV-free in 1973 you have pretty good timing. There were a couple of decent shows in the late 70s (WKRP, Barney Miller) but they were anomalies.
posted by ovvl at 6:57 AM on March 5, 2020
From my perspective, American broadcast TV programming dropped in general entertainment value after the early 70's
This collection of intros from the "36 NEW SHOWS OF THE HELLISH MID-SEASON TV OF 1979" (previously) would seem to bear that out.
posted by Iridic at 8:22 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
This collection of intros from the "36 NEW SHOWS OF THE HELLISH MID-SEASON TV OF 1979" (previously) would seem to bear that out.
posted by Iridic at 8:22 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
So did anyone watch any of these yet? Maybe I'll pull out that Sally Field movie for a family viewing session this weekend.
posted by morspin at 10:17 AM on March 5, 2020
posted by morspin at 10:17 AM on March 5, 2020
I've been watching this list for a long time. There's a metric fuckton of low-budget creativity in these movies.
I was sick a lot as a kid, and had a lot of trouble sleeping. I would often sneak out to the family room to watch the late movie of the week. I was rarely disappointed.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:13 PM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was sick a lot as a kid, and had a lot of trouble sleeping. I would often sneak out to the family room to watch the late movie of the week. I was rarely disappointed.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:13 PM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
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